One more exciting band from Belgium after Thot , I, the Phoenix , Black Spires , Nox etc. And well, all these bands – and few others – are interesting in different ways, they are all “digging” in different directions.
The duo consist of Amaury Massion – vocals and guitar, and Joel Grignard – guitar, bass and keyboards start the project at Berlin during a week of performances at the famous Tacheles and by this debut album entitled “Freedomatic” they taking the world one by one, country by country, front by front, releasing it till now in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and France. Read more My TV is Dead – Freedomatic (2009)
indie
ATO Records Free Summer Sampler
A total of 12 tracks, one by each artist: Mariachi El Bronx, Ben Ottewell, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, My Morning Jacket, Bobby Long, Drive-By Truckers, Alberta Cross, Gomez, Vusi Mahlasela, 311, Dawes and John Butler Trio, it’s the free summer sample offered by ATO Records if you’re willing to gave up your e-mail address – confirmation required. Get your copy from the label’s official site.
I believe it’s just perfect for your car stereo or iPod and it’s a nice opportunity to listen some artist, get a batter taste of them.
Some – Gomez, 331, My Morning Jacket, etc – are quite familiar ones, I wrote about their recent albums, others might be fresh acquaintances, anyway, nothing’s better than a free ride, isn’t it? Read more ATO Records Free Summer Sampler
Taken By Cars – Dualist (2011)
Taken by Cars is a Filipino indie band and “Dualist” is their soft-more second full length album.
43 minutes, 11 tracks, a tasteful, indie pop, alternative dance mixture delivered by Sarah Marco on vocals, Bryce Zialcita on lead guitar, Derek “Siopao” Chua on rhythm guitar, Isa Garcia on bass guitar, and Bryan Kong on drums and sampler.
Founded in 2006, Taken by Cars made waves with their underground demo “A Weeknight Memoir (In High Definition)†which attracted attention and hit number one on a local rock radio station in Manila. They singed to the local indie label Party Bear Records and they released their debut album, “Endings of a New Kind,†under Warner Music distribution in early 2008. Read more Taken By Cars – Dualist (2011)
Kinky Yukky Yuppy – Escape (2010)
Kinky Yukky Yuppy after releasing several EPs, signed with M&O Music and released their debut album in October last year. Labeled simply “indie”, these guys from Evreux, France delivering a quite colourful blending of classic and indie rock flavored with alternative rock/metal heaviness and pop-like melodies. Quite breathing and very refreshing mixture, they have a nice vibe and excellent groove, have a few extremely powerful riffs, just as they have some catchy melodies. The band name there own influences: Biffy Clyro, A Perfect Circle, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Silverchair, Alien Ant Farm, Manchester Orchestra, and actually this colourful is their music.
Lead singer and guitarist Jérémi reminds me of Steve Hogarth of Marillion and KYY share some similarities with the post-Fish era (1989–present) Marillion, although KYY mainly bring to the surface some much heavier, metal-like sounds. Read more Kinky Yukky Yuppy – Escape (2010)
The Amsterdams – Electromagnetica (2011)
I’ve got to admit it, globalization in some particular cases has its indisputable charm. You can’t take a piss at Melbourne without somebody notice it at Juneau and with a proper Facebook/Buttbook profile you might have you’re mandatory “fifteen seconds of shame”…
The Amsterdams are not some Dutch guys as you might believe, they are from Bucharest, Romania and playing a sort of very Brit indie pop/rock. Back in 2005 when the band was founded they sounds more like Kaiser Chiefs, meanwhile they lost along the way their punk after-taste rawness and scratchiness, their sound becomes more smoother, radio and consumer friendly. “Electromagnetica” is the band’s second album, released on 31 March 2011 and since 1st April is available also as free digital download at the band’s official web site. Read more The Amsterdams – Electromagnetica (2011)
Slide On Venus – Put music to your troubles, EP (2010)
Formed in 2007, Slide On Venus* from Besançon, France merging power pop, indie, pop punk and high-energy rock elements in their groove oriented, electrifying music. Their third EP “Music To Put Your Troubles” released in November 2010 consist of five dynamic, pulsing, high-end and absolutely positive songs, beside their declared influences, reminds me a little bit also of OK Go, and not only because these French guys are singing in English, but their sound and music is quite American.
“California Saturday Ghost”, “Tongue and Blood”, or the smoother, softer “Aurora” are quite catchy songs, this positive vibe just feels alright. Read more Slide On Venus – Put music to your troubles, EP (2010)
themuztard seedz
I try to convince others to collaborate, create together. It seems harder than I thought, people mostly are preoccupied with their own shit. I can’t blame anybody, the world today is a pretty fucked-up place, and well, the worst is still to come I guess. Last year I put together a set of recordings with the core of the band Oedip Piaf and some contribution from Mr. Winteller from London, that was “Badtime Stories” (you can grab it for free, by the way), a noisy, gloomy, kind of experimental album which shifting between different genres from punk to free jazz and back to rock through psychedelic whatever.
The experiment still running, I write themes, song structures and I send the tracks around, anybody interested to participate, are welcome. I wrote this theme called “The Mustard Seeds”, Mr. Winteller and the guys from Oedip Piaf have their fun with it and send me back their tracks and I mixed them into one. This is the result: Read more themuztard seedz
Man Man – Life Fantastic (2011)
Listening the fourth album by Man Man you might actually believe, feel, that life is fantastic. They have a glowing positive vibe, a charming perfume of the 60s with nice twist and turns of the 90s authentic indie sounds. Sometimes they sounds like a happy Tom Waits.
Formed in 2003 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Man Man’s frontman is Honus Honus, and its other members are Pow Pow, Chang Wang, Turkey Moth, and Jefferson, all the band uses pseudonyms. They’re known for their multi instrumental style that centers on the piano playing of lead singer/lyricist Honus Honus accompanied by a wide variety of other instruments played by the rest of the band. While on recordings, Honus usually plays piano, during the live shows he uses a Rhodes Piano or a Nord Electro 3. The rest of the band plays clavinet, Moog Little Phatty, sousaphone, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, flute, bass clarinet, drum set, euphonium, Fender Jazz Bass, Danelectro baritone guitar, xylophone, marimba, melodica and various percussive instruments including pots and pans, toy noise makers, chinese funeral horns, spoons, smashing plates, and fireworks. Read more Man Man – Life Fantastic (2011)
Joe Lally – Why Should I Get Used To It (2011)
If his name doesn’t ring the bell, I’m gonna whisper it to you: Joe Lally formed Fugazi – the brilliant post-hardcore band – with Ian MacKaye in 1987 and remained the group’s bassist until their “indefinite hiatus” in 2003. Joe has also contributed occasional lyrics and vocals to Fugazi songs. He founded Tolotta Records (distributed through Dischord Records), which was active from 1994 until 2001, putting out notable releases by such artists as Dead Meadow, Spirit Caravan, Stinking Lizaveta & Orthrelm. In early 2002, Lally joined ex-Frodus members Shelby Cinca and Jason Hamacher on a project originally called The Black Sea, which would change its name to Decahedron and release an EP and an album before Lally left the band. He has also worked with John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer as the group Ataxia, releasing two albums: “Automatic Writing” (2004) and “AW II” (2007).
In 2006, Lally was playing solo shows on bass with slight laptop accompaniment in various college towns, which would lead up to Lally’s first solo album, There to Here, which was released in the fall of 2006. It features Jerry Busher, Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina, Guy Picciotto, Scott Weinrich and many other musicians from the DC music scene.
His second solo album, Nothing Is Underrated, was released in November 2007.
His 3rd album, “Why Should I Get Used To It” was released in April and we’ve got 11 pumping, pulsing, nice indie/post-rock songs. Read more Joe Lally – Why Should I Get Used To It (2011)
13 & God – Own Your Ghost (2011)
Result of an over-sea collision, 13 & God returning with their second studio album and their pumping, flowing, floating cocktail of sounds and genres which reminds me partly of Massive Attack, but these guys blending and mixing into it from pop to indie and from ambiental textures to folk everything they can get their hands – and imagination.
The official story is pretty hazy: “somewhere outside of Toronto in early 2004, on a stretch of uninspired highway leading to the U.S./Canadian border, a computer onboard a large tour bus spontaneously combusted. Some point the finger at the driver (an aspiring reality show auteur), others blame a faulty battery, and most hold a small stuffed fox accountable. But however it happened, themselves and The Notwist were stranded. Dates were cancelled. Meals were skipped. Shady motels were booked in below-freezing weather. The fox was dead. It was the fifth breakdown of their joint tour series of minor disasters distant somewheres, a love was born of nervous laughter, shared admiration, axle grease and roasting circuitry.
From the balloon-and-burst child psychology of Adam “doseone” Drucker, Jeffery “jel” Logan, and Dax Pierson (collectively themselves), and the pinhole-in-paper astronomy of the Acher brothers Markus and Micha, and Martin “Console” Gretschmann (the core of The Notwist), emerge 13 & God.” (MySpace Bio) Read more 13 & God – Own Your Ghost (2011)
